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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30015480">like a jigsaw we fall (into place)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/missymeggins/pseuds/missymeggins'>missymeggins</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>nothing but shapes [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Castle (TV 2009)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2011-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2011-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:53:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,581</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30015480</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/missymeggins/pseuds/missymeggins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s years before he asks her to move in with him, and years still before she says yes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kate Beckett/Richard Castle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>nothing but shapes [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2208051</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>like a jigsaw we fall (into place)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Sequel to The Confusion of Straight Lines</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <i>It’s years before he asks her to move in with him, and years still before she says yes.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>But it doesn’t matter because they've always been the kind to make their own rules and for a long time, they work just fine without living together.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>They drift in their own ways, to their own tune, and meet somewhere in the middle; the state of their relationship – as defined by everyone else – isn’t terribly important to them. In essence it’s quite simple: where she is, he is too. It’s not about following her anymore – he stops being an official consultant for the NYPD roughly a year after they start - because he no longer needs to.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>They draw a line between themselves and it’s just the magnetic fact of them; where he is, she is too.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>(It doesn’t need to be literal with them. The years of working together have left her with an imprint of him in her every action; she finds that even after he ceases working with her, she can’t go back to how she did things before. She looks for the story now, because she knows there always is one.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>And he writes with her voice in his head – Nikki has never been more real to him.)</i>
</p><p>
  <i>They don’t need a definition to hold them together; they do that for themselves.</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The first time he visits her new apartment, she watches him as he moves around in the space observing and absorbing what's there – and all the things that aren't. It would seem he took notes the night he slept on her couch because he seems to know so many of the things she lost, commenting on their absence.</p><p>She watches him move to her kitchen and pull out two wine glasses; she’s strangely nervous, but she's discerning enough to recognise that it's the good kind of nerves and it gives her the courage to embrace it. They've finally stepped out from behind all their excuses and there's no going back now.<br/>
<br/>
She makes her own way over to him and pauses for a second before gently resting her hands on his stomach. Her fingers curl in his shirt for a moment and she’s enjoying this, this slow tenderness. His hands find her waist and he pulls her closer, wrapping his arms around her til all she can feel is her body touching his.</p><p>She leans her forehead on his chest and her fingers still dance ever so lightly over his shirt. She imagines how this scene might look from the outside - like she's crying and he's comforting her - but really she’s just enjoying how solid he feels beneath her fingers.</p><p>It's taken them a long time to get to this point but it's been worth it. She has no doubts; he's the most dependable thing in her life.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>At two o'clock in the morning he puts his wine glass on the coffee table next to him and gently lifts her legs off his lap where they've rested for the past three hours.</p><p>“It's late, I should get going,” he tells her quietly. She's already half asleep and he smiles at how relaxed she looks. He knows it's probably just the bottle of wine they've shared between them but he likes to think that maybe it's just a little bit about him. He likes to think that the smile on her face and the light in her eyes is something he can take credit for.</p><p>She reaches out and grabs his hand. “Stay.”</p><p>“Kate?” he begins to question carefully but she cuts him off.<br/>
<br/>
“I'm not suggesting anything,” she tells him sleepily, “I'm just saying, stay.”</p><p>He smiles and pulls her up off the couch, brushing his lips against her forehead. (He likes that she's just that little bit shorter without the heels, as sexy as they are.)</p><p>“Okay,” he nods, because really he just doesn't have the power to say no to her.</p><p>She leads him down the hallway to her bedroom and pulls off her jeans without hesitation, only turning away to remove her bra and pull a baggy t-shirt over her head. She slides under the covers and watches him with an amused smile on her face.</p><p>“You planning in sleeping in your clothes?” she asks, raising her eyebrows at the fact that he’s still just standing at the foot of her bed fully clothed.</p><p>“Of course not,” he says a little defensively. “I was just...you know, trying to work out how to be a gentleman about this.”</p><p>She laughs and her smile widens. “Screw that Castle, just get in bed okay?”</p><p>And at that he strips quickly, tossing his jeans and t-shirt on top of her clothes hamper. Her clothes, he notices, are just scattered on the floor.  It surprises him. He’s so used to her fastidious nature when it comes to her work. But he likes that he’s still learning about her. This is a first for him. He’s never dated someone who’s already been in his life for so long and it’s a little odd to feel like he knows her so well, but at the same time feel as though they’re starting something completely new.</p><p>He climbs into bed carefully, unsure of where to go from here. This is new too, sleeping with a woman before <i>sleeping</i> with her.  Still, it’s Kate and that’s the difference. He can feel no disappointment, not when for so long he didn’t believe she would ever want this at all. He doesn’t move, still unsure how to approach these newly expanded boundaries with her but, just like so many other things about their relationship, she takes the lead on this too pulling him close to her and curling her body into his until there’s no space left between them.</p><p>And then she’s asleep and all he can think about is that he's never wanted to hold onto anything in his life as much as he wants to hold onto this.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>She wakes to the feeling of movement beside her and opens her eyes to the sight of Castle pulling on his jeans.</p><p>“What are you doing?” she mumbles sleepily.</p><p>“I'm going to get breakfast,” he replies.</p><p>“No,” she tells him. “No, no, no. It's too early, I'm not hungry, now get back into bed.”</p><p>“But,” he starts to say as she sits up just enough to make a grab for his wrist and tug him forward onto the bed with her.</p><p>“No,” she tells him again, taking his face in her hands and kissing him slowly, all the while leaning back against the pillows and dragging his weight on top of her. He follows eagerly letting himself get lost in the way it feels to run his hands down her sides or tangle in her hair while she kisses him with complete abandon, like he’s the only thing she wants.</p><p>He pulls back for a moment and as he looks at her breathless but smiling beneath him he knows he has to stop right now while he still has some semblance of self control. He brushes her hair off her face and then sits back up running a hand through his own as he tries to regain his composure.</p><p>“Kate, if we don’t slow this down I...” he trails off, unsure how to even finish that sentence with any kind of dignity.</p><p>“Castle?” she says looking him square in the eye, “I’m not asking you to slow down.”</p><p>He breaths in slowly, reminding himself that this thing with her is about more than one moment. He’s never wanted her as much as he does right now, but through the haze of desire he clings to the fact that it’s not <i>just</i> desire that he wants. He wants Kate Beckett as his partner, his friend, his lover. He wants her to be something he can count on, and be the same for her in return. He won’t risk regrets – not for either of them. This is too important and it may have taken almost two years of working with her, the flash of pure fear and grief that tore through him as he watched her apartment burn, and the undeniable contentment he had felt with her presence in his home, but he knows now that she is everything that he wants.</p><p>“This is good right?” he asks her seriously. “You and me, trying to make this work, it’s a good thing?”</p><p>“Yeah, this is good,” she tells him, smiling quietly.</p><p>“So. Let's just keep it that way for a little bit?” he asks her cautiously.</p><p>“Right. Sure,” she nods seriously. “I get what you're saying - that having sex with you would ruin it.”</p><p>“Okay. That was just cruel,”  he says pouting at her a little.</p><p>“Yeah, well so was you leaving my bed in such a hurry,” she tells him pointedly and all he wants to do is kiss her. But he keeps his distance and tries to make her understand.</p><p>“I’m just saying, we don’t need to rush things. I’m not going anywhere, so we can take our time if we want.”</p><p>“And what if I have no interest in ‘taking our time’? Did it ever occur to you that I’ve just been dying to get you in my bed?” she flirts with him, trying to make him laugh.</p><p>“I don’t want to screw it up Kate,” he says, looking at her carefully as if he didn't even hear the playful words she just spoke, focussing instead on the seriousness of his own. “You and I, well, it’s taken a lot to get here and that’s mostly because we kept running from it. I’m not willing to risk it this time, I want this, I want you and I think the best way forward is to be at least a little bit careful.”</p><p>“Come on Castle, I’ve survived having you as a partner. The way I see it, adding sex can only improve things.”</p><p>This time he smiles at her teasing, he can’t help himself. There’s something about her – well, isn’t there always? But there’s something extra when she plays with him, the way she takes such pleasure in teasing him. The truth is he just loves to see her smile and he doesn’t really care if that smile graces her face at his expense.</p><p>But he also knows he needs her to understand this for real, needs her to take him seriously, just for this moment.</p><p>“Kate - ”</p><p>She cuts him off, and her smile settles into something more serious. “Castle, we’re not going to screw it up.”</p><p>“Easy for you to say, you haven’t been divorced twice.”</p><p>He tries to say it jokingly but she hears the words for what they really are – a genuine fear.</p><p>“Hey,” she says, scooting forward on the bed so she can be closer to him. She rests her chin on his shoulder and her hand goes to his thigh resting there in both a gesture of reassurance and a safeguard to prevent him from trying to leave.</p><p>“Do you want to be with me?” she asks him and her voice is both serious and calm, and he feels his heart-rate slow down, feeling secure beneath her touch and the knowledge that she’s really listening to him. It figures she’d be the confident one while he’s a bundle of nerves. They never have  abided by traditional gender roles.</p><p>“Yes,” he tells her and his voice is as sure as she’s ever heard it. Not that she had any doubts. She knows how he feels about her, has seen it in his eyes and felt it in his friendship in a million different ways since their unconventional partnership began.</p><p>She turns his cheek so that they’re eye to eye and she tells him, “And I want to be with you. We’ll be fine.”</p><p>Then she presses her lips to his, bringing a hand to his neck and anchors him to her, as if to say ‘I won’t let go’ and he finds her other hand, resting on the sheets and links his fingers with hers.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When she arrives at the precinct (without Castle in tow; she insists he go home and change first) she checks to see that there's nothing urgent needing her attention,  and then makes her way quickly to the morgue to see Lanie.</p><p>“Hey, I wasn't expecting to see you. You got a body on its way to me?”</p><p>“No. This is more of a social visit,” Kate says, shifting on her feet a little awkwardly before finding finding a seat on on an empty slab, swinging her legs a little in anticipation of the conversation she's about to have which, if she knows her friend as well as she thinks she does, will probably involve some excited squealing.<br/>
<br/>
“What do you mean social visit,” Lanie asks, not looking up from the body she’s examining.</p><p>“I just thought you might want to know about something that happened last night,” she says casually.</p><p>“If it didn't involve some incredibly hot guy in your bed, I'm probably not interested,” Lanie replies wryly and Kate can't help the grin that rises to her face.</p><p>“I guess it's lucky it did then."</p><p>“Excuse me?” Lanie exclaims excitedly, straightening up and looking at Kate before following up with a slightly baffled, “<i>who</i>?”</p><p>Kate grins even wider and Lanie let’s out an excited squeak. “Please, oh <i>please</i> tell me it was Castle.”</p><p>“It was Castle,” she confirms.</p><p>Lanie looks at her as if in shock and Kate briefly thinks she should be offended by the sheer disbelief on her friend's face but at the same time she can't really blame her; after all it was a only a few weeks earlier she'd been confessing that she wasn't sure she could just let go as far as Castle was concerned.</p><p>“You finally slept with him,” Lanie breathes out.</p><p>“Well, no,” Kate says, somewhat awkwardly. “To clarify, I didn’t <i>sleep</i> with him. We just...shared a bed.”</p><p>“Okay, so what does this mean? Are you two...? Lanie lets the rest of that question hang in the air, partly because she can't quite figure out what definition to end that sentence with, but mostly because she suspects it's probably important for Kate to tell her this on her own terms. Defining her relationship with Castle has always been a challenge. Kate surprises her though, with the ease of her answer and that in itself, Lanie thinks, is indicative of how right this relationship is.</p><p>“Dating? Yes,” Kate confirms. “Or whatever the less Junior High way of saying that is,” she shrugs.</p><p>“Honey, I can’t believe this! I’m so happy for you. You’re happy right?”</p><p>Kate ducks her head, trying to bite back the smile that lights up her face. It’s not that she’s embarrassed of this moment exactly but it’s been a long time since she’s had to have this conversation with someone and she feels a little rusty. But it’s Lanie, and if anyone will ignore the fact that she sounds like a giggling school girl, it’s her.</p><p>“I’m happy,” she laughs, just letting it all out. “I’m <i>really</i> happy Lanie. I think – I think we really have a shot at making this work.”</p><p>“I always knew you would if you could just admit that you were hot for each other,” Lanie tells her, offering a playful wink. “And now, you’re gonna start at the beginning and tell me exactly how this all happened.”</p><p>She stops for a moment, thinking about their timeline and wondering if it would even really be possible to pinpoint where it started because sometimes she feels like it started the moment they met and it's just been slowly building towards this inevitable conclusion ever since but at the same time there have been so many other pivotal moments in their relationship that she could potentially point to any of them and say, 'That's where it really began.'</p><p>“Well, I guess it all started when he suggested we ‘debrief’ after that first case,” she muses.<br/>
<br/>
Lanie glares at her, saying, “Girl I’mma slap you,” with nothing but her eyes.</p><p>Kate laughs, “Okay okay, I know what you meant. It started when I was staying with Castle after my apartment blew up. And I guess it <i>really</i> started when I was packing my things to move into the new place and we kissed. And from there it just all...<i>happened</i>.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>He's sitting at her desk waiting for her when she gets back from seeing Lanie but he stands quickly when he sees her, perching on the side of her desk instead and gesturing to the cup of coffee waiting for her. She's barely had time to take a sip before her phone rings and then they're in the car on their way to a crime scene and it almost feels like every other day they've spent working together, except that it's not because there's an undercurrent of energy that's completely new to them both.<br/>
<br/>
They stop at a set of traffic lights and she finds herself reaching out for him, resting her hand on the back of his neck, just because he’s there and she can. She can feel the smile on her face and it feels so good to just be <i>happy</i> like this. She's not sure she'd ever fully realised how much effort it had taken to not be with Castle and now she's almost surprised that she didn't burn out with all that wasted energy.<br/>
<br/>
“Can I ask you something?” his voice breaks through her reverie and she glances at him quickly, noting that he's looking at her intently.</p><p>“Sure,” she tells him. “What’s on your mind?”</p><p>“Are we telling people about us yet?”</p><p>She bites her lip, wondering if she should have consulted him about telling Lanie, and then offers him a sheepish smile. “Yeah, about that. I might have already told Lanie.”</p><p>“Couldn’t contain your excitement at finally having me in your bed huh?” he jokes, raising his eyebrows in that way that always makes her laugh.</p><p>“Something like that,” she replies lightly, but she holds his gaze and reaches for his hand, giving it a quick squeeze, and he understands that this is her way of telling him – yet again – that she’s sure about this, about him.</p><p>The lights go green and she puts both hands back on the wheel. She misses the contact with him already but he quickly fixes that, resting his hand on her thigh and lightly running his thumb over the material of her jeans, just enough so that she can feel it.</p><p>“So you’re okay with it if we tell Ryan and Esposito?” he asks her. “I just don’t feel right keeping it from them.”</p><p>“Sure. Plus you wanna brag, right?”</p><p>“About the fact that I finally got the extraordinary Kate Beckett to go out with me? Uh, yeah!”</p><p>He smiles as he says it and she knows this smile now because he reserves it solely for her and it’s not just a smile, there are words behind it. There are always are. This is how they do things, they speak in gestures and subtext and though the words aren’t always spoken out loud, the meaning is always clear. And she thinks they’ll get better at the verbalising part – after all, they’ve only just begun.</p><p>“So...how do we tell them?” she asks as they pull up to the crime scene.</p><p>“I hadn’t really thought that part out yet,” he confesses. “I guess we’ll just figure it out when the time is right?”</p><p>“Okay,” she nods. “But for now – and at all future crime scenes I should add – we keep things professional.”</p><p>He raises an eyebrow as if to point out just how out of place it would be if they were to behave ‘professionally’ but she gets his meaning and adds, “You know what I mean, <i>our</i> version of professional. You being you, me being me. No flirting. Well - the usual amount of flirting.”</p><p>He grins beside her, enjoying hearing her describe the unique characteristics of their relationship and she hits him lightly.</p><p>“Oh, shut up,” she says getting out of the car and walking ahead of him to see what they’ve got.</p><p>He follows quickly behind her and as he watches her kneel to look at the body, face already in serious detective mode he feels good because really, not that much has changed. They’re still Castle and Beckett, they’ve just added a romantic element to what was already there; a bedrock of partnership and friendship that grew around them so quietly it took them far longer than it should have to realise the significance of it all.</p><p>But, he thinks, this is always how it was supposed to happen.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It’s a tough case and it takes them a few days to crack it, days they spend thinking about little else other than murder. There’s no time for anything else and each night he lets her go home alone because he senses it’s what she needs.</p><p>“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she tells him, resting a hand on his shoulder for the briefest of seconds. It’s hard not to ask if she’s sure, because a great part of him desperately wants to take her home and wrap her in his embrace, his way of telling her that she’s not alone.</p><p>But he thinks he can understand her meaning too. It’s hard to adjust to letting someone see all of you. Happiness is easy; the rest is harder. It weighs on her, the responsibility that comes with her job. And though she knows he understands – or at least, as much as he can – she’s still too used to carrying it alone. She needs her solitude at times like these because solitude is how she learned to cope.</p><p>(She can see it in the future though, a time when letting him hold her together will be easier. They’re  not quite there yet but she appreciates that he’s willing to fight his natural instinct in order to be patient for her.)</p><p>When they finally do close the case it’s a relief for them both. Castle finds Beckett in the break room grabbing a coffee and he sits on the edge of the table waiting for her.</p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>“Hey,” she says turning to face him and smiling in return. (He's realised recently that almost nothing makes him happier than bringing that smile to her face. It's an ego boost like no other, that he can make Kate Beckett smile with such unbridled joy.)</p><p>She leans in and kisses him softly, and it's an act of pure instinct because she completely forgets that the blinds are up and there's more than a dozen of her colleagues in the bullpen who can see straight through those windows, but the truth is she's just not thinking about any of that because she's tired and relieved to be done with this case and it's been days since she's kissed him.</p><p>“So, I was thinking maybe you could join us for dinner at the loft? Mother and Alexis are dying to see you,” he says, resting a hand on her hip. “And I might have been missing you a little too.”</p><p>“I bet you have,” she says with a soft lilt to her voice. She moves in closer so that she's standing between his legs and rests her hands on his shoulders . “Dinner sounds perfect,” she tells him because the truth is, it does. She can't think of anywhere she'd rather be tonight. “Let me finish up this paperwork and I'll meet you there in an hour okay?”</p><p>He nods and she holds his gaze all the way to the door and then she walks right out of that breakroom and straight into the enquiring eyes of Ryan, Esposito and Lanie.</p><p>“Uh, hi?” she says a little awkwardly as she realises what they've just witnessed.</p><p>“So,” Esposito starts, “You and Castle? How long?”</p><p>“Lanie what are you even doing here?” she deflects, because Esposito is looking deadly serious and frankly she's not sure <i>why</i> they're taking this so seriously but it's a touch unnerving.</p><p>“Oh come on, Esposito spots you two making out over there, you think I'm not his first call? It was just lucky I was already on my way here.” Lanie says and Kate knows she's having way too much fun with all of this.</p><p>“But you already knew!”</p><p>“Hey!” Ryan exclaims, trading hurt looks with Esposito.</p><p>“Please, like I was going to miss this show!”</p><p>“Okay, okay,” Kate says, waving her hands at them in a 'shut up' gesture. (There are perks to the way Ryan and Esposito respect her on the job, and her ability to make them stop talking when she needs to is most definitely one of them.)</p><p>“Yes, Castle and I are dating,” she tells them, no fanfare or convoluted explanations, just the simple fact. “Everyone happy?”</p><p>“Well, yeah, if you are,” Ryan shrugs. “Sure.”</p><p>“<i>Very</i> happy,” Castle exclaims behind her and she laughs.</p><p>“You're an idiot,” she tells him and she's sure by the looks on their faces (even Esposito's stonewall  expression fades) that they can all hear the affection in her voice.</p><p>“I <i>will</i> be watching you Castle,” Esposito tells him. “You know we will always have her back, and that means if you hurt her – well, it won't end well for you.”</p><p>“I know,” Castle tells him seriously. “You don't have to worry about that.”</p><p>“Okay then,” Esposito says cracking a smile. “In that case, I'm happy for you man. For both of you.”</p><p>“So, we all good then?,” Kate asks her audience, “Cos Castle and I've got dinner plans with Martha and Alexis and I'm sure you can all find better things to do than discuss our relationship.”</p><p>They all nod, “Sure.” “Yeah, course.” “Get outta here!”</p><p>Castle tentatively loops his arm around her waist, looking at her to see if that's ok and she calls out to the others, “See you tomorrow.”</p><p>By the time she and Castle reach the elevator she can already hear the three of them engaged in fervent conversation and Castle just smiles at her, “Let 'em have their fun.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Darling,” Martha greets her with a quick kiss on the cheek. “It's wonderful to have you back. We miss you of course, but I am so glad you kids finally got it together. I mean really, it was about time,” she says, waving her hands in the air. “Now, let's get you a drink.”</p><p>Kate smiles back at Castle as Martha leads her off to the kitchen. She wonders if it always feels this easy to join someone's family or if it's just the Castle's. Actually, she thinks to herself, that's a stupid question - of course it's the Castle's. That's just who they are.</p><p>“Where's Alexis?” she asks, as Martha hands her a glass of red.  She hasn't seen the young girl since she moved out and even though she knows Alexis is happy that she and Castle are together – both because she knows Alexis <i>and</i> because Castle has gone to great pains to tell her so – she can't help but want to make sure for herself, that Alexis doesn't have any concerns.</p><p>“Doing her homework upstairs, what else!” Martha laughs.</p><p>“I'm gonna go say hi,” she says as Castle walks into the kitchen and starts pulling things out of the fridge, presumably for dinner – though she's a little concerned to see both onions and a can of whipped cream placed on the bench together.</p><p>Kate knocks on Alexis's doorframe, reflecting on the fact that Alexis never seems to keep her door closed, except at night, and how that somehow seems such a fitting reflection of her nature. She's not sure she's ever known a teenager as open as Alexis. It's a little intimidating at times.<br/>
“Kate,” Alexis greets her happily, jumping up from her desk and embracing her in a quick but affectionate hug.</p><p>“Hey Alexis,” Kate says, quietly enjoying the feeling of being so welcomed and squeezing back with equal affection. “How are you?”</p><p>“I'm good,” Alexis tells her. “Just busy with school and friends and life in general. You know how it is,” she shrugs, and then adds with a grin, “Although, I must say dad's been much less trouble since you two started dating, which has been an added bonus.”</p><p>Kate ducks her head a little shyly, hoping that Alexis's apparent happiness with the situation means there won't be much to worry about, but still not sure how to actually ask her if this is really all okay. She decides to just take a deep breath and go for it, blunt and to the point.</p><p>“Alexis, I just feel like I need to ask straight up, that there's no...awkwardness or concerns on your part about me dating your dad?”</p><p>Alexis laughs, “You're kidding right? Kate I'm ecstatic. I've never seen my dad this happy. The only thing I need to know is that this is serious for you, that it's longterm, because I know it is for dad and I'm not sure how he'd handle losing you. But I don't think I really need to ask that do I?” she finishes looking at Kate intently.</p><p>Kate shakes her head. “You're too wise for your age, you know that right? But no, you don't need to ask. I'm in this for good.”</p><p>“Okay then,” the redhead smiles. “Shall we go brave whatever it is that dad's cooking?”</p><p>“Yeah, I have to ask. Is it normal that he would pull out onions and whipped cream from the refrigerator? I mean, they're not both ingredients for dinner right?”</p><p>“No, the whipped cream is just to get him through the actual cooking,” Alexis tells her with a grin as they walk down the stairs.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>She leads him by one hand - while his other covers his eyes (at her instruction) - up on to the rooftop of her building where there's a table with with champagne and food, and candles scattered over the expanse of concrete waiting for them, because true to form they've sort of done things out of order and she realised they'd never had a proper date.</p><p>She pulls his hand down from his eyes and he looks around, taking in his surroundings and as he begins to recognise the scene, she can't quite hide the smirk that rises to her face.</p><p>“Uh, Kate? I might be going crazy here but this kind of looks like...” he makes a face and she laughs.<br/>
“Looks like what?” she says all mock innocence and amusement.</p><p>“This is a Nikki Heat scene,” he finally asserts. “This is a scene between Nikki and Rook. How the hell did you - ”</p><p>“You don't exactly keep your pages locked up tight.”</p><p>“You read the manuscript!” he exclaims and she can't tell if it's indignation or excitement. Knowing Castle as well as she does by now she figures it's probably a mix of both.</p><p>“You just left it on your coffee table one night. What did you expect?” she laughs.</p><p>“You're a fan,” he he says, smirking at her.</p><p>She rolls her eyes at him. “I read it is all.”</p><p>“Okay,” he smiles at her. He's happy enough to let this slide. He doesn't feel the same need to make her confess to being a fan of his books any more. It just doesn't seem so important now, and besides, this little display is enough for him; he knows his words mean something to her. He looks around the roof at the obvious effort that's gone into this. “And so this is...?”</p><p>“This is me, paying homage to our fictional counterparts,” she tells him with a dramatic flair, “seeing as how they managed to get it together so much quicker than we did.” And then, softening her voice and stepping closer she adds, “And, truth be told, I thought it sounded like a pretty good way to spend an evening with you.”</p><p>“I couldn’t agree more,” he replies, pulling her in for a kiss.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They abandon their chairs once they've eaten, opting instead to lay down on a picnic blanket, hands entwined, watching the night sky.</p><p>“Thank you,” he tells her sincerely. “This has been the perfect date.”</p><p>“You're welcome,” she replies softly.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It's well after midnight when they finally climb back down to her apartment and they're both a little tipsy. It's dark and she guides him backward through her place, holding him tightly by the hips and pressing light kisses to his lips until they're standing in the doorway of her bedroom.</p><p>“So Mr Castle, can I convince you to stay?” she asks, running her hands lightly over his chest and she looks at him seriously, trying to make him see that this is okay, that she <i>wants</i> him.</p><p>His hands slide under her shirt and then she feels him hesitate because he's still concerned about taking things slow or being a gentleman, but they've waited long enough she decides; she has no doubts about their ability to make this work and she's not interested in denying herself this pleasure any longer.</p><p>She kisses him, fiercely and deeply, with every emotion she feels for him and when they finally break for breath she whispers in his ear, “Go ahead, rip my bodice,” as she presses him into the wall.</p><p>“You know that’s actually not from the same scene as the rooftop,” he says seriously, pulling back to look at her. “If you're going to go to the effort to steal my unpublished work, you should at least have the decency to read it properly.” He sounds mildly hurt and she shakes her head with silent laughter.</p><p>“Do you really think now is the time to point out discrepancies in my references to your book? Really Rick?”</p><p>“You’re right, I’ll shut up now.”</p><p>She grins at him, says “Good” against his lips and this time his hands slide under her shirt, caressing her skin with confidence, while his hips press into her, and she knows he's finally ready to get lost in this.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>He plays with her hair, splayed out on his pillow; she rests her hand on his back and they've been silent for a while now just letting it wash over them, happy in the confirmation that they can in fact just be together and the lack of conversation is anything but empty.<br/>
<br/>
“So,” Kate says, rolling closer to him with a little smile on her face. “Just out of curiosity, is there even anything else in this book other than Nikki and Rook making out?”<br/>
<br/>
“Should there be?” he replies, in all seriousness.</p><p>She rolls her eyes and he just laughs into the crook of her shoulder, kissing her skin softly and revelling in the quiet little sighs that escape her lips and the way she runs her hands down his back.</p><p>“Mmm fair point,” she breathes out, and then all thought leaves her mind because one hand is on her thigh, gently running his fingers higher, while the other tangles in her hair as he kisses her slowly and nothing in this moment could matter more than this.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>(There was a time when they both thought making a relationship work between them would be hard. They thought it would take time and patience and concessions by both of them.</p><p>But it doesn't take time, and they need no patience. The concessions they make come naturally and they settle into life together - into something like happiness - with ease.</p><p>Their milestones come and go but they take a timeline of their own. It's not about six months or a year, though those dates sweep through their lives before they even know it, but instead about dozens of quiet moments that define who they are together. It's the way she likes to whisper Nikki Heat lines in his ear (usually at inappropriate moments), and the way he plays with her hair when they're curled up on the couch; it's the way Saturday nights are theirs alone, but Sunday mornings are breakfast with Alexis and Martha.</p><p>Mostly though, it's that from the moment they start they never doubt that it's permanent.)</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>She's sitting on his kitchen bench one night, watching as he stacks the dishwasher and she's struck by the feeling of absolute contentment. He turns to her, reaching for the glass beside her on the counter and as he does he rests a hand on her thigh for just a second.</p><p>It's a simple action, one that's so familiar to her by now and the part that surprises her is that it still makes her <i>feel</i> so much. His hands on her body still sets her alight, even when it's as simple as the brush of a finger across her cheek or the slight weight of his hand on her thigh.</p><p>And right there, in that moment, she feels absolutely nothing holding her back. She looks at him and knows that her next words will be the truest thing she's ever said.</p><p>“I love you,” she tells him simply.</p><p>He drops the glass and it smashes on the floor; she doesn't blink, just waits.</p><p>“Did you just say - ”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>He looks at her incredulously and as she looks straight back at him she can't hide the smile that graces her face.</p><p>He steps over the mess of glass and water, brings his hands to her face and just stares at her for a moment without saying a word. But she knows his face well by now and his eyes tell her everything she needs to know.</p><p>“I...Kate,” he pauses for a moment, a little lost for words (and she still loves that she can have that effect on him) and then he kisses her deeply, pulling back to draw his breath and breathe it back out with the words “I love you too.”</p><p>“Yeah. I figured,” she whispers kissing him back and she can feel him smiling against her lips.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <i>Later, people – reporters mostly –  will ask them about their relationship and how they came to be.<br/>
In their minds they think it's a long story; a complicated story; an imperfect story.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>But when they distil it for questioning ears (because of course there are parts of it which belong just to them) they find that the most important details really are quite simple.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Their story goes like this:</i>
</p><p>
  <i>They meet, they fight, they learn, they love.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>(Funnily enough, though he's a writer, he tends to be the opposite of verbose when it comes to their relationship. Perhaps it's because although they don't hide it, they don't flaunt it either. She rarely walks the red carpet with him at his book launches, and only does so when she decides it's important for both of them, like the launch of the final Nikki Heat book. They limit their displays of affection at these kinds of events to the occasional peck on the lips and his hand on the small of her back as they walk somewhere.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>He discovers that brevity, though often the enemy for a writer, is his natural instinct when it comes to talking about her. What she means to his life, who he is with her beside him, is not for the world to see.)</i>
</p><p>
  <i>They're Castle and Beckett; Rick and Kate. It doesn't matter to them whether the rest of the world can see it, they know that being together just makes sense. </i>
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